Stuff that happened in 1980:

1. I was born
2. Galanos perfume won a Fifi

Those are really the only relevant things to this post, so feel free to comment about other interesting things that happened in 1980!

Thirty years ago Galanos the fragrance was something of a hit, and the tiny amount of information that I can find about it online seems to indicate that the people who wore it then, then located it again in this decade, still think it’s great. That’s positive.

Galanos was launched during a time when perfume announced your arrival a half-hour before your actual appearance: I’m looking at you YSL Opium and EL Beautiful. Even the girlish Anais Anais (launched in 1979, I think) was a powerhouse of the clean-morally-upright-school-girl genre. So it was with not a little trepidation I opened my just-arrived flacon of Galanos parfum this morning.

The presentation is stunning. For what I would call a very affordable fragrance, the flacon is a nice little piece of art. It’s got heft, and the elegantly swirled glass looks better in person than it does in photos. It comes in a velvet box, with a standard outer cardboard for protection. I don’t know when my bottle was made, but I’m guessing that it’s vintage. When I opened the stopper, it actually fizzed. Not out of the bottle or anything, but when the air entered it created a nice little show.

It smells… nice. Quite nice. I put it on the hubby first, and it smells a tad on the matronly side for him, but he declares that “it smells good.” On me it smells like a smooth, nicely done riff on Chanel no. 5, with a wink at EL’s Beautiful—it’s the way the rose is handled, I think. Like no. 5 or Beautiful, I can’t really pick out any individual notes other than the rose I mentioned; however, I do notice the oakmoss. It feels like a powerhouse fragrance, yet it throws almost no sillage. Overall very subtle for an 80’s hit.

Notes: coriander, carnation, cypress, gardenia, tonka bean, bay leaf, musk, vanilla, jasmine, cloves, oakmoss, lily-of-the-valley, cedar, rose and geranium

I would be happy to send a 1mL sample to the first person who asks.

Photos are mine.